|
Post by balc2 on Apr 26, 2024 20:10:55 GMT
Yesterday I said I would try & do something on the balcony today - if the weather cooperated, well it did! I was able to spend an hour on the balcony moving plants around mostly. I took some of the Geraniums out of the plastic mini-greenhouse which sits on the balcony table, & put them on the shelving alongside. They are now more open to the wind & sunlight. Even though they were in the greenhouse all winter the door has been open for several months now so the plants won't notice any difference in the temps - except for the windchill factor! I hope they don't get sunburnt after being out of the sun for 6 months! Perhaps if it's sunny during the coming week I'll throw a fleece over them so they don't get sunburnt.
I watered most of the plants I still have on the balcony because the wind has dried many of them out. One poor Primrose on the top of the balcony railings was so dehydrated I thought it wouldn't recover, but it did!
I'm still finding the caterpillars of the Tortrix moth among the plants, especially those Geraniums that spent the winter in the GH. I checked them very, very carefully before putting them away for the winter but they still found them! Which has just brought back to my mind that our granddaughter spent Wednesday with us & she saw one climbing on the side of the fridge in the kitchen! How it got there I've no idea! I "disposed" of it!
While I was on a roll on the balcony I emptied out 2 big pots that appeared to have nothing growing in them. One I discovered had had a Fuchsia but it hadn't survived the winter out on the balcony. As the other pot was totally empty I have no idea what might have been in it that rotted away entirely during the winter.
I didn't want to use the compost from the two pots again as it had probably been in the pots at least 2 years, maybe 3. But I did take advantage of the pots to repot the 2 pots of Clivias that flowered so wonderfully well in February this year. I emptied them out of the pots, teased the old compost away, separated them & removed dead & dying roots & foliage before potting them up again the the bigger pots. As they are more spread out now they will have plenty of room to grow for the next few years. As I believe they like to be quite "snug" & now they have lots of room, I don't expect flowers next Feb! But the following year they should again flower really well.
I also took the 4 Amaryllis plants from the kitchen & put them on the shelving on the far wall on the balcony. I'd repotted them up in new pots some months ago & the leaves have grown out of all proportion to the pots! Still if I look after them during the summer come next spring they will delight me once more with their wonderful & brilliant flowers! I still have one plant flowering in the kitchen still but I also discovered that it's the only bulb that's throwing up another bud this year! I hadn't noticed it till this morning! So it will obviously stay in the kitchen for a couple of more months, until the new bud finishes blooming.
|
|
|
Post by balc2 on Apr 26, 2024 20:40:03 GMT
I forgot to mention what I did with the old compost from the 2 big pots I emptied out! Well I put it in a raffia bag & carried it the 50 ft to where, last July, the council gardeners put 3 concrete planters around the cash machine. They have put no soil or plants in them in spite of the Town Mayor telling me they would be planted up in "due course"! He was talking to me while judging the balcony for the Best Front Garden Competition. The gardeners were putting them out while we were talking. Well as they haven't been planted up, & I've no idea if they will be in a month's time, when the summer bedding is put out, I emptied the raffia bag into one of the 3! for my 2nd trip I took the soil I couldn't manage the first time & added the compost from one of the big black hanging baskets at the far ends of the balcony. I dumped that in the same planter. The next time I go to do some work on the balcony I shall empty out the other black hanging basket as well as the other 5 or 6 hanging baskets. All the baskets have not had a change of compost in at least a couple of years, so they will get new compost this year, ready for the mini-tomatoes I will plant in them in a month's time. All this compost will go into the planters around the cash machine.
That's one of the problems those of us face that don't have a garden - what do we do with our old, tired, worn out compost??? If you have garden any old compost from pots can be used as mulch or soil conditioner or even be tipped on the compost heap - if you have one! As we live in a block of flats we don't get bins for garden waste! So what have I been doing with this waste material all these 20+ years of gardening on the balcony? Well some years I dumped it behind the hedgerow on the other side of the road from our block of flats. When I was helping my friend Gerry from church with his 1 1/2 allotments I sometimes took it down there. When I had to give up the allotments I started taking it to the church gardens. But wherever I take it after a few years it gets to be too much! Last year, as I had less to get rid of, I flung it out in handfuls over "our lawn" (the patch of grass outside the balcony the council gardeners kindly look after for us! )
|
|
|
Post by SueA on Apr 26, 2024 21:41:18 GMT
Received some more plug plants in the post today, 6 Moneymaker tomatoes, 20 assorted giant fuchsia & 5 assorted tomatoes, I think I got a bit carried away & forgot what I'd already ordered! 😁 Planted them all up in cell trays in the greenhouse.
|
|
|
Post by grindle on Apr 27, 2024 2:14:24 GMT
just had time to give the first coat of paint to the new container before it started raining
|
|
|
Post by ladybird on Apr 27, 2024 13:55:44 GMT
I`ve been quite ill for the past few months ( Ulcerative Colitis ) Only now back in the greenhouse pricking out stuff sowed in February. Thankfully they have been watered and have survived. All doing well especially the tomatoes as they seem to have benefited from not being pricked out to soon. As usual I have a LOAD of bulbs sitting in there that should have been planted . No seed potatoes this year as the problems with the New Winsor Frame work continue. Still no seed delivery from Thompson and Morgans though other seed companies like Mr. Fothergills, Chilterns, Moles seem to be sending OK. I just don't understand the problem which is frustrating.
|
|
|
Post by seaburn on Apr 27, 2024 17:15:52 GMT
I helped cut back the hedge at my daughter's new home It overlooks the Waveney Valley, Norfolk. Exciting times for them. Hubby and son-in-law tackled the wallpapering.
|
|
|
Post by jellibeans on Apr 27, 2024 17:30:02 GMT
Not a lot as we were out for lunch today and have had heavy rain all afternoon. I did water all the seedlings and plants out in the greenhouse and in the 3 coldframes
Potted up the Gypsophila.
|
|
|
Post by daitheplant on Apr 27, 2024 18:37:57 GMT
Only checked out the greenhouse today, too wet to work outside.
|
|
|
Post by grindle on Apr 28, 2024 0:01:47 GMT
I managed to get the Acer out of its pot, no mean feat as it was very heavy, it's now sitting in the wheelbarrow drying out so I went to the garden centre and got a replacement, it won't have the same impact at the moment but will grow. I have to find something large enough to put the old one in and let it takes its chances
|
|
|
Post by balc2 on Apr 28, 2024 5:26:05 GMT
Glad to see you back, ladybird 👍 Sony to hear you have been unwell but glad you are feeling better enough now to do some gardening. 👌
|
|
|
Post by SueA on Apr 28, 2024 10:41:40 GMT
Hope you're feeling better ladybird, don't take too much on at once though! We went to RHS Bridgewater yesterday for a walk around & a look at an iris show they had on in the exhibition tent there, not very much in there but it was freezing & I bought a little cotton shopping bag with a print of irises on it for £5. 😊 Came home & as it was dry I decided to give the 'lawn' it's first cut, had to tell the blackbird in her nest on the patio first that I'd be making a noise but wouldn't be for long! 😁
|
|
|
Post by balc2 on Apr 28, 2024 20:49:33 GMT
One more day - & another one without setting foot on the balcony! As temps are expected to be higher tomorrow than in a couple of weeks perhaps I'll be able to get outside at some point & do some work! We'll see! 🤣
|
|
|
Post by grindle on Apr 29, 2024 3:50:37 GMT
hope you're feeling much better now ladybird xx made a start weeding out between paving then painted the bit of fence and trellis, that's one part finished ready for planting
|
|
|
Post by seaburn on Apr 29, 2024 6:16:00 GMT
did a little bit of tidying in the greenhouse. Need to get the toms moved into their final pots in the coming week. Need to buy the compost first!
|
|
|
Post by Eli on Apr 29, 2024 15:35:23 GMT
Yesterday I sowed my peas in the raised bed - they are dwarf varieties. I planted my onion sets in the raised bed and some in a deep trough, and I planted some Shallots. I moved some potted cuttings to sweep the slabs and Bella went to lie down there so the cuttings had to remain on the path !
I've put some house plants outside so that I could do a bit of spring cleaning (and the plants were in the way) but the rain came and soaked them so they'll have to stay out until tomorrow.
Sorry you've been unwell ladybird, but it's nice you've been able to get some gardening done at last.
|
|